Guitarist Lasse Wellander, who toured and recorded with 'ABBA' over a span of nearly 50 years, died of cancer on Friday, according to his family and the band.
The Swedish native joined the group’s recording session for songs “Intermezzo No.1” and “Crazy World” from ABBA’s self-titled third album, released in 1975.
“Lasse soon became the main guitarist on ABBA’s albums, and toured with them in 1975, 1977, 1979 and 1980,” the band’s website said. He continued to work with Ulvaeus and Andersson after the quartet split in 1982. Wellander contributed to the soundtracks for 2008’s “Mamma Mia! The Movie” and 2018’s “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” during the band’s hiatus.
He reunited with ABBA for the group’s latest collaboration, their ninth studio album “Voyage,” which was released in November 2021.“In 2005, he received the Albin Hagström Memorial Award from The Royal Swedish Academy of Music and, in 2018, the Swedish Musicians Union’s prestigious special prize Studioräven Award for his work as a session musician,” his biography said., Wellander was born in 1952 in a small Swedish village called Skrekarhyttan.
He learned to play bass, keyboard, recorder and accordion. His three final singles, titled “O Come, All Ye Faithful, “Merry-Go-Round” and “Overdrive,” were released in 2022.
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